Hardships of moving bedridden patients with low cognitive level in surgical wards and intensive care units or elderly care houses causes a compromise in the ideal number of times that a patient should be bathed or a patient's bed sheet should be changed. In conventional existing hospital beds, the patient must be moved before changing bed sheets. In many cases patients cannot leave the bed without the aid of others. This adds to the duties and difficulties of the patients' families and hospital staff, and more importantly, it may cause pain and discomfort to the patients. Changing bed sheets in a hospital or healthcare facility promotes cleanliness and prevents unnecessary infections, ulcers, injuries, etc. Changing a bed sheet while the patient is still on the hospital bed carries significant challenges, both for the patient, and the care-giver.
In conventional sheet changing methods, a patient on the old sheets is initially rotated on one side such as the left side, then a portion of the old sheets on the right side of the bed, which becomes accessible is folded, and then, new sheets are spread on the right side of the bed. After that, the patient is rotated to the right, over the spread portion of the new sheets, then the old sheets are removed, the remaining folded portion of the new sheets is spread, and finally the patient is positioned in the center of the bed. In this sheet changing method, the patient has to be moved and rotated, which may be uncomfortable or dangerous for a patient and burdensome for the care-taker.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art, for bed sheet changing methods and devices that can efficiently and hygienically change the sheets on a bed while keeping the sheets taut against the bed. There is also a need in the art for a compact and easy to use apparatus for changing bed sheets that can be used with both disposable and non-disposable sheets.